See-saw with foot operated linkage

ABSTRACT

A child&#39;&#39;s see-saw has a rocking bar with a single seat near one of its ends and its pivot point near the other end. The rocking bar is connected by a linkage to a rocking lever provided with a foot-rest beneath the seat so that a child can rock itself on the see-saw by pushing down on the foot rest to raise the seat and relaxing foot pressure to lower the seat. An extension may by provided carrying a second seat so that two children may operate the see-saw in the normal way.

llnited States Patent [191 Douglass et a1. v

[11.1 3 3,822,881 1 1 July 9, 1974 SEE-SAW WITH FOOT OPERATED LINKAGEInventors: Walter Douglass, 3O Groovewood Close, Chorleywood; Paul JohnMurgatroyd, Gullbrook, Boxmore, Hemel Hempstead, both of England Filed:Oct. 3, 1972 Appl. No.: 294,592

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 7, 1971 Great Britain 46620/71US. Cl. 272/54, 272/55 1m. (:1 A63g 11/00 Field of Search 272/55, 54,56, 79 R, 30,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS,

2/1886 Flach 272/54 3/1910 Miller et al. 272/87 X 2,107,448 2/1938Marlowe 272/55 X 2,145,940 2/1939 Marlowe 272/53.1 X

2,398,122 4/1946 Souza 272/55 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 7619/1899 Great Britain 272/52 312,934 11/1933 Italy 272/79 R PrimaryExaminer-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Am0ld W. Kramer Attorney,Agent, or FirmWenderoth, Lind & Ponack [57] ABSTRACT A childs see-sawhas a rocking bar with a single seat near one of its ends and its pivotpoint near the other end. The rocking bar is connected by a linkage to arocking lever provided with a foot-rest beneath the seat so that a childcan rock itself on the see-saw by pushing down on the foot rest to raisethe seat and relaxing foot pressure to lower the seat. An extension mayby provided carrying a second seat so that two children may operate thesee-saw in the normal way.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure I SEE-SAW WITH FOOT OPERATED LINKAGEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to see-saws of thekind used primarily for childrens amusement.

Conventional childrens see-saws are commonly in .the form of a rockingbar centrally pivoted on a sup- SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object ofthe present invention is to provide a see-saw which is capable ofoperation by only one child while still providing pleasurable sensationsderived from a conventional see-saw in use by two children.

A see-saw in accordance with the invention comprises a base supporting arocking bar on a horizontal pivot, a seat on the rocking bar remote fromthe pivot, a foot rest mounted on the base beneath the bar and movabletowards and away from the bar and connected thereto by a linkage in suchmanner that downward movement of the foot rest produces an upwardmovement of the seat and vice versa.

In a preferred construction of the invention the foot rest is supportedby a reciprocatory crank structure pivotally mounted on the base andpivotally attached to one end of a connecting link which is alsopivotally attached at its other end to a strut extending downwardly fromthe rocking bar and rotatable therewith about the axis of rotation ofthe rocking bar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a clearer understanding of theinvention one preferred embodiment will now be described in more detailby way of example with reference to the accompanying perspectivedrawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In this embodiment a see-saw forone child is arranged so that two children can use it if required.

The see-saw comprises a base 1 in the form of an H- frame carrying anupright stanchion 2. A rocking bar 3 is pivoted on the upper end of thestanchion for movement in a vertical plane. The rocking bar carries aseat 4 at one end remote from its pivot point and is bent downwardlyunder the seat to form a stop member 15 terminating in a resilientbuffer to limit the downward movement of the seat when the bar 3 isrocked. Between the pivot point and the other end of the bar 3 a strut 5extends downwardly from the bar and is pivotally connected to one end ofa link 6, to the other end of which is pivoted a reciprocatable crank 7pivotally mountedon the frame I. An arm 8 rigidly attached to the crankterminates in a foot rest 9. A handlebar 10 is mounted on the bar 3 infront of the seat 4.

To use the see-saw a child takes its place on the seat 4 grasping thehandle bar 10 and places its feet on the foot rest 9. Pressure on thefoot rest rocks the crank 7 counter-clockwise about its pivot (as shownin the a return upward movement of the seat or the downward movement ofthe seat is arrested by contact of the buffer at the end of the member 5with the frame.

If required the amount of rotary movement of the rocking bar can beadjusted by selecting any one of a series of appropriate holes 5a in thestrut 5 to receive a pivot pin 5b for the connecting link 6, and theheight of the foot rest above the ground when the rocking bar is in itslowest position can also be adjusted by providing a series of selectableholes 6a in the end of the connecting link 6 to receive a pin 5bpivotally connecting it with the strut.

In order to make the see-saw suitable for use with two children, the endof the rocking bar 3 extending on the opposite side of its pivot shaftto the seat 4 is constructed to form a plug and socket or otherconvenient connection for an extension bar 11 which is also providedwith a seat 12 and a downturned end terminating in a buffer identicalwith the rocking bar and forming a stop member 13. A second handlebar I4is mounted on the bar 11. When two children are using the see-saw theextension bar is connected to the rocking bar so that two seats areprovided equidistant from the pivot shaft as in a conventional see-saw.The child on the seat fitted to the rocking bar may, if wished, controlthe movement of both by employing the foot board to produce the rockingaction, the second child merely acting as a passenger.

A see-saw in accordance with the invention is also suitable for use asan exercising device for adults. Such a device may be of a constructionbasically similar to the above-described embodiment with a modificationcomprising the replacement of the fixed handlebar by a handlebarpivotally mounted on the rocking bar and connected by a straight pivotedlink to the strut or an upward extension thereof arranged so thatmovements of the handlebar to and from a person sitting on the seatcoincides with downward and upward movements respectively of the footrest. By such means a person can exercise both arms and legs. Anadjustable friction device is incorporated. in the handlebar pivot sothat the effort involved in operating the see-saw can be varied.

We claim:

1. A see-saw comprising a base supporting a rocking bar on a horizontalpivot;

a seat on said rocking bar remote from said pivot;

a handlebar fixed to said rocking bar between said seat and said pivot;

a foot rest mounted on said base beneath said seat and movable towardsand away from said bar; and linkage means connected to said bar for,upon downward movement of said foot rest, producing rotation of said barabout said pivot to cause upward movement of said seat and vice versa.

2. A see-saw according to claim 1, wherein said linkage means comprisesa reciprocatory crank attached to said foot rest and pivoted on the baseand pivotally atable by adjustment of the position of one of the pivots.

5. A see-saw according to claim 1 further comprising an extension bardetachably mounted on the rocking bar to form a continuation thereof, aseat being attached to the extension bar equidistant with the rockingbar seat from the rocking bar pivot.

1. A see-saw comprising a base supporting a rocking bar on a horizontalpivot; a seat on said rocking bar remote from said pivot; a handlebarfixed to said rocking bar between said seat and said pivot; a foot restmounted on said base beneath said seat and movable towards and away fromsaid bar; and linkage means connected to said bar for, upon downwardmovement of said foot rest, producing rotation of said bar about saidpivot to cause upward movement of said seat and vice versa.
 2. A see-sawaccording to claim 1, wherein said linkage means comprises areciprocatory crank attached to said foot rest and pivoted on the baseand pivotally attached to one end of a connecting link which is alsopivotally attached at its other end to a strut extending from therocking bar and rotatable therewith about the axis of rotation of therocking bar.
 3. A see-saw according to claim 2 wherein the position onthe strut of the pivot axis for the link is adjustable.
 4. A see-sawaccording to claim 2 wherein the effective length of the link betwEenits pivots thereof is variable by adjustment of the position of one ofthe pivots.
 5. A see-saw according to claim 1 further comprising anextension bar detachably mounted on the rocking bar to form acontinuation thereof, a seat being attached to the extension barequidistant with the rocking bar seat from the rocking bar pivot.